By Jann Martin Schwarz, Senior Director of Marketplace Innovation at LinkedIn & the founder of The B2B Institute, the leading B2B think tank funded by LinkedIn and Mimi Turner, Head of Marketplace Innovation, LinkedIn
This article was originally published in the Brand Finance Global Most Valuable B2B Brands Index 2025
In the complex world of B2B buying decisions, brand investment is not optional - it's an essential business driver that directly impacts revenue growth. While conventional wisdom often positions brand as more crucial in B2C consumer markets, the reality reveals a different story: brand investment is actually more important in B2B because the stakes and risks are substantially higher. This is due to the fundamental difference of B2B compared to B2C - the importance of buyer group decision making, and the creation of “collective confidence” as a necessary requirement for closing B2B deals.
Brand as the antidote to organisation indecision
In B2B, the best product doesn’t win, the most “buyable” brand does. Chances are that whenever deals are lost, B2B sellers are not in fact losing to competitors with better products or lower prices - they are losing either to stronger incumbent brands or simply losing to indecision.
These "no-decision losses" occur when the buyer group lacks the collective confidence to proceed with a purchase. Research from Matt Dixon and Ted McKenna's book "The Jolt Effect" reveals that over 40% of B2B deals stall because a group of buyers cannot reach consensus.
Indecision stems from a fundamental human behaviour pattern: in organisational settings, people prioritise avoiding blame over capturing potential gains. When multiple stakeholders with competing priorities must align on a significant investment decision, the fear of making a mistake in front of colleagues becomes bigger than the fear of missing out. This dynamic creates a powerful barrier to purchase decisions that brand strength uniquely addresses.
And yet brand’s hidden power is often lost on B2B marketers who are too focused on driving leads from individual buyers in a specific job function, whom they perceive as the only decision makers. To win, marketers must consider the whole buyer group, including those stakeholders who will never fill in a lead gen form but can veto a buying decision.
The B2B buying process typically involves multiple stakeholders with divergent priorities and concerns. At the most basic level, there are two kinds of stakeholders:
- Target Buyers are the product experts. For example, in the case of buying CRM software, members of the sales, business operations and IT departments - they focus on things like advanced features, system compatibility, transformational potential, and innovation.
- Hidden Buyers are process-driven. They often sit in departments like security, compliance, legal, or procurement - they prioritise reliability, peace of mind, and vendor trust among peers.
These Hidden Buyers wield surprising influence despite not appearing in marketing analytics or lead generation forms.
LinkedIn’s upcoming research with Bain and Company and Newton X, studying the drivers of complex tech purchases at large global enterprises, shows Hidden Buyers holding 49% of the decision-making power, and being much more influenced by brand power. They are 70% more likely than Target Buyers to reject unfamiliar brands and 31% more likely to reject brands they personally don't recognise.
In this complex ecosystem, brand familiarity creates a common reference point that bridges differing priorities within buyer groups. As our study revealed, shared brand knowledge matters more than price advantage or even superior product features.
An astounding 81% of respondents indicated that at the start of the purchase process, "everyone" or "almost everyone" in the buyer group knew the brand eventually selected from the start, while only 4% reported purchasing a product or service known exclusively to the recommending function.
This explains the enduring power of IBM's unofficial tagline: "Nobody Ever Got Fired For Buying IBM." Brand serves as "anxiety insurance" for the most cautious members of the buyer group, creating the collective confidence necessary to move forward.
Brand as a revenue accelerator
Far from being merely a marketing expense, strong brand presence also directly contributes to revenue performance through several mechanisms:
- Accelerated deal size and velocity – When buyer groups already recognise and trust your brand, decision cycles shorten dramatically, and deal sizes increase.
- Reduced procurement hurdles – Established brands face fewer objections during procurement processes, as Hidden Buyers are more influenced by brand than Target Buyers.
- Enhanced customer lifetime value – Brand trust establishes a foundation for expanded relationships over time, as incumbent brands become hard to displace.
These advantages help explain why market concentration is particularly pronounced in B2B sectors. In many technology categories, the top three vendors capture more than two-thirds of market share - a testament to the compounding pricing power advantages of brand leadership.
Building brand when you're not the market leader
While category leaders often build brand recognition through scale advantages, emerging challengers need more deliberate strategies. This is especially crucial in a world where AI Agents will increasingly automate product and buyer matching to create shortlists. Brand as a proxy for human relationships will become an even bigger differentiator. B2B marketers and sellers who focus more on scaling the human dimensions of decision-making will win as deep relationships, trusted recommendations and authentic professional voices become the decisive factors that really count.
For companies without stadium naming rights or dominant market positions, brand building requires intentionality through:
- Community building – Fostering peer and expert networks that generate social proof and drive collective confidence.
- Cultural relevance – Demonstrating authentic understanding of your customers' business context to become the obvious choice to buy from.
- Distinctive visual and IP assets – Establishing a clear and memorable point of view and a promise to the customer that resonates across the whole buyer group.
These investments build the shared familiarity and trust necessary to overcome the risk aversion that derails so many B2B purchase decisions.
The case for strategic brand investment
When executive teams evaluate marketing budgets, brand investments should be understood not as awareness-building expenses but as strategic assets that directly and indirectly impact revenue performance. The evidence shows brand strength isn't just about top of the funnel - it's about creating the collective confidence necessary to create buyer group consensus throughout the buying journey.
